* * *
“What’s wrong, Ruby?” Melanie asked. “You seem a little distant tonight.”
Jade and Marj were on the dance floor, enjoying the bachelorette festivities despite the resort-wide news we’d all gotten about the missing women. The resort wasn’t closing down, but they had offered refunds to anyone who wanted to leave.
Juliet and Lisa hadn’t yet been found.
They likely wouldn’t be. They were probably long gone by now, though no one at the resort wanted to believe that.
I, on the other hand, had no issue with the truth. The truth was hard, and hard truth was a part of my everyday life. Had been for seventeen years.
Our party had decided to stay through the wedding tomorrow and then leave early. Not great to have our vacation cut short, but right now none of us felt like sticking around. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ryan alone about Juliet and Lisa, but during the rehearsal he’d been watching me, his eyes sunken. Most likely he was wishing he’d tried harder to stop them. God knew I was.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to bring your party down. I just can’t get those young women out of my mind.”
“You tried to stop them. Ryan told us. It’s not your fault. And one of them got away.”
“I know. And I know it’s not my fault. But God…this should be a safe place.”
“This is a safe place. Security is everywhere. It was a fluke that those guys got in, and the girls didn’t have to go with them.”
“Shayna didn’t want to go.”
“And Shayna obviously figured out there was danger and got away.”
“She could have easily drowned.”
“But she didn’t.”
“Damn! Why didn’t they listen to me?”
Melanie touched my arm. “Because they’re twenty-one. They can’t see past tomorrow. They came here to have fun, and three handsome strangers offered to take them Jet Skiing. When you’re young, you don’t think about consequences.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t have a normal growing up experience, Ruby.”
I sighed. “I know. I just wish I could talk to Shayna. Find out what happened.”
“The locals are on it,” Melanie said.
“I’m sorry to be such a downer,” I said. “This is the night before your wedding.”
“It’s okay. I understand. We’re all pretty broken up. But we came here for a wedding, and we’re going to have a wedding.”
“Definitely,” I said. “Jade and Marj don’t seem as affected.”
“They are. They deal with it a little differently. I talked to them both after we found out. They’re pretty freaked. So are the guys. Especially Ryan.”
“Did you see the blonde who came up to Ryan last night at dinner?”
Melanie nodded.
“That was Juliet, one of the girls who’s missing. She had a thing for Ryan.” I sighed. “If he’d gone with her, given her what she wanted, she might still be here today.”
“Ruby, Ryan wasn’t interested in Juliet. In fact, it’s pretty clear that he’s interested in you.”
I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous.”